South Korea’s chief trade envoy, Yeo Han-koo, will travel to the US on Monday for follow-up talks on tariffs, the trade ministry said, as both sides work to resolve pending issues in a trade deal agreed in July.
Details of the broad trade agreement still need to be hammered out, especially around a $350 billion investment fund.
Officials in Seoul have said trade talks are being delayed because the terms outlined in a similar deal with Japan struck with the US are unacceptable for South Korea due to foreign exchange market implications.
Working Hard To Achieve ‘Reasonable’ Outcome
Yeo’s trip comes after Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan recently returned from Washington after talks with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“We’re working hard to achieve an outcome that is reasonable and meets our national interests,” Yeo told reporters at the airport before leaving for the United States.
The apparently inability of Industry Minister Kim to make progress in trade talks during his US trip has raised concerns that negotiations have reached an impasse, local media reported.
Kim did not elaborate on the trade negotiations other than saying they were still underway, when asked by reporters about his latest trip to the United States.
The trade ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Safeguarding National Interests
President Lee Jae Myung said last week that he would not sign any agreement with the US if it put at risk South Korea’s national interests.
“If it doesn’t benefit us, there’s no point in signing it,” Lee told a press conference.
The finance ministry said on Sunday it was discussing various measures with the US to minimise any impact on the onshore currency market from the $350 billion investment package but declined to confirm if the measures included a foreign exchange swap line.
US Immigration Raid
The tariff negotiations are underway at a time when the countries are trying to repair strained ties after a recent US immigration raid that saw the arrest of hundreds of Korean workers at a Hyundai Motor battery plant in the state of Georgia, one of South Korea’s biggest US investment projects.
Images of the raid that saw workers taken into custody in handcuffs and shackles by US immigration authorities have left many shocked in South Korea, a key US ally.
US President Donald Trump said in a post on social media that he wanted foreign companies to bring their professionals to teach and train Americans to learn how to make complex products such as chips and ships.
“I want them (foreign companies) to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize Investment into America by outside Countries or Companies,” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
